But wait...There’s more!

I love flowers, all kinds. Flowers in fields, carpeting the hills with their color, Flowers in potted plants with their showy blooms brightening up their little corner of the world, Flowers on tree branches with their perfume that floats by on a breeze. Flowers bring color to the world and make me smile.

The scent of the orange blossom in the spring is always a wonderful surprise to me. I don't have any orange trees in my yard, but every spring its perfume sneaks by on a breeze and makes me pause and enjoy. I stop for a moment and notice the blue in the sky, the colors around me, and the sound of birdsong in the air. How lovely. A blessing.

The orange blossom flower isn't all the tree has to give. Once the tree has flowered, the oranges will begin to grow. Imagine that...beautiful flowers AND fruit!

I stopped to think about that. You and I are a lot like a fruit tree. There are different cycles to our lives. Growing fruit takes time, though, and the conditions have to be right before we can flower, before we can produce fruit. The growth happens in the waiting.

To those of you in the leaf stage who are waiting and wondering why it is taking so long for something to bloom in your life, take heart it will happen, and it will be beautiful!

But to those of you who feel that you have already bloomed and you are wondering "what do I do now" or "can there be anything to look forward to" I say, but wait...there's more! God is preparing you for the fruit stage. You thought your story had already hit the highlights. God, however, is getting ready to reveal a whole new plan for you, another chapter you couldn't even imagine!

God is the gardener, planting seeds, pruning for growth, admiring the flower, and rejoicing in the fruit!

Remember Philippians 1:6, Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

So, grow, blossom, and wait for the fruit! It will be spectacular!